News stories from Saturday July 18, 1981
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- 111 bodies were recovered under the smashed concrete walkways that collapsed in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City and fell on a crowded lobby, where a dance was being held. The number of injured was estimated at 188. The walkways, among three spanning the 60-foot-high lobby at the second, third and fourth floors, were designed to allow guests to walk from their rooms to meeting rooms on lower floors without having to pass through the lobby. Why one of them collapsed, bringing down a second, was not known, but it was thought that the one that collapsed bore too much weight, and that the movement of dancers on the walkway contributed to the stress on the structure. [New York Times]
- A Postal Service contract offer was assailed. The current contract, covering 600,000 employees, will expire at 12:01 A.M. Tuesday. However, the Postal Service and four labor unions continued to negotiate. The service proposed a wage freeze, a reduction in health benefits and limited cost-of-living adjustment not to exceed $3,000 over a three-year period. Union leaders said the offer was "a disaster." [New York Times]
- A cautious trade approach toward the Soviet Union will be sought by President Reagan at the meeting of the leaders of the seven major industrial democracies that begins Monday in Ottawa. The President will take that stance after settling a major policy dispute in the administration over East-West trade. [New York Times]
- A Palestinian quarter was in ruins in Beirut after the Israeli bombing that killed at least 300 people and injured about 800 others. The target of the Israeli planes was two headquarters of guerrilla organizations. Rescue crews continued to search for bodies in the rubble of destroyed apartment houses. Militiamen occasionally fired rifles into the air to break up the congestion caused by curious passers-by. [New York Times]
- A halt to Israel's attacks in Lebanon is being sought by Philip Habib, the American special envoy in the Middle East. Mr. Habib arrived in Israel and was expected to meet tomorrow with Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Meanwhile, northern Israeli towns and kibbutzim were shelled by artillery stationed in Lebanon. [New York Times]
- Stanislaw Kania was re-elected as leader of the Polish Communist Party. The secret vote by the 1,955 delegates at the special party congress in Warsaw was another extraordinary event at the gathering, which has broken new ground in in the Soviet bloc with democratic procedures unimaginable a year ago. Party leaders in the Soviet are normally chosen in a closed session. [New York Times]